ZeroVM – Hyperscale Cloud Infrastructure(zerovm.org) |
ZeroVM – Hyperscale Cloud Infrastructure(zerovm.org) |
I wrote about a ZeroVM-on-Docker thing I was working[1] on in another thread just before this story showed up.
Note that ZeroVM isn't a conventional VM at all. All your software needs recompiling for it, and it is entirely deterministic (with all the positive and negative aspects of that).
For one set of use-cases this is very useful. I was looking at using it to run untrusted user-submitted, and potentially hostile code when a Docker container isn't sufficient on its own.
http://blog.docker.com/2014/07/new-dockercon-video-docker-se...
[1] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/docker-user/SELin...
Previous submissions/discussions:
Two years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3746222
About a year ago, acquisition by Rackspace: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6588566
(From January 2014): http://www.rackspace.com/blog/zerovm-design-summit-day-1-dig...
While I haven't played with Manta, the architecture really appeals to me -- it's nice to see more implementations along similar lines (but sadly, presumably, without zfs or equivalent ...).
It's also hard not to think of it as TechStars Rackspace when you're in a space sponsored by Rackspace, run by a former Rackspace exec, in a building named for the Rackspace chairman, and in a program administered by a former Rackspace exec. With Rackspace sponsoring, of course.
Of course Rackspace was involved but Cloud isn't a "powered-by" program like those with Sprint or Nike. Other than ZeroVM, I don't think Rackspace was seriously involved with any of the other companies in the class.
In my experience, Rackspace was pretty hands-off, both with Techstars and Geekdom in general. I think you're trying to insinuate something negative about their involvement when it was only (IMO) positive.
I'm not trying to insinuate anything negative. I just think TechStars Cloud might as well have been a "powered-by" program by another name.
Future hardware isolation: http://css.csail.mit.edu/6.858/2013/readings/intel-sgx.pdf
Mbox is a lightweight sandboxing mechanism that any user can use without special privileges in commodity operating systems.
http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/mbox/
I had trouble running it in Ubuntu because of AppArmor..
What am I missing? (Or is it just that some rootkits use ptrace/Seccomp?)
Interposing (i.e violating API contracts) with ptrace is great for debugging or research prototypes, but the knowledge gained from that research needs to be made interoperable with existing APIs that have been battle tested. Paper said that ptrace/debug overhead is 100%, seccomp (an existing, non-debug API) reduces the need to use ptrace, halving runtime overhead.
Separately, a kernel exploit could break the "sandboxing" of ptrace or docker, hence the need for AppArmor and SE Linux. Here is a year-old Windows article about breaking out of Adobe and Chromium, principles are similar for Linux:
https://www.corelan.be/index.php/2013/03/15/blackhateu2013-d...